Praiano is just east of Positano, and Marina di Praiano is just to the east of town.
Not too exciting a town, though we didn’t actually walk around it – but it was a nice scooter ride up to the homes up top (the church is below the main road), with views east and west.
We set an alarm (gasp!) in order to go for a scooter ride this morning before returning it before 11am and checking out. It was sunny and we had missed out on a few hours of riding yesterday due to the rain.
We drove west past the Emerald Grotto (Grotto della Smerelda) carpark to a little gas station (€1.85 per litre, for a total of €6 for our 45km touring), after a little detour up into the small town of Conca dei Marini.
FYI, we did shoot a few videos while driving on the scooter; however, I won’t be able to post them until after returning home.
For moving on to Positano, we had decided to take a taxi from our Atrani hotel to the bus and ferry terminals in Amalfi (1km – €15!) due to our luggage, but once we were in the taxi we asked him how much to take us to Positano (16km). The hotel had told us €80, the driver quoted €50 and we talked him down to €45 and saved a lot of time and hassle (the ferry would have been €11 each but then we’d need a porter service for €8/bag in Positano as our hotel is up high on the hill). Our driver was nice and he stopped twice for photo ops.
Today we change towns again, moving on to Sorrento on the northern side of the peninsula. It will be a good base for seeing Capri, Pompeii and Naples.
The weather is still great, with a high of 30C/86F predicted today.
Update: bargained with taxi driver for a €65 fare (down from €80 initial offer) from Positano to Sorrento (he ran the meter anyway, which would have cost more). It’s about 20km plus a little more to our hotel, about 45 minutes, depending on traffic.
After breakfast we went for another scooter ride (same 24 hour rental that started the previous afternoon), this time west towards Sorrento. In fact could see Sorrento (and back towards Praiano) from the ridge on the peninsula at the start of the Amalfi Coast.
We also rode up to Montepertuso (hole in the mountain) and tiny Nocelle in the hills above Positano for some killer views and a light lunch.
Gas is expensive at €1.85 per litre ($2.45/L or $9.35/gallon!!); good thing the scooter only need €10 of gas for our 95km of hilly rides.
In the afternoon we rented a little wooden motor boat (max speed only 3 knots) for 2 hours (€35 per hour). We looked at the second beach in Positano then headed east to the headland around which we could see Amalfi Town. A nice relaxing way to see the scenic coast from the sea.
Last night we had an excellent romantic dinner at Scirocco resto up in Montepertuso.
Yesterday after a morning scooter ride, we packed up and took a taxi to pretty (and expensive) Positano for our next 3 nights. There seem to be way more American and British tourists here than in Amalfi/Atrani.
Today we had a leisurely breakfast (great buffet at our hotel), sat by the rooftop pool with great views, then rented a 125cc scooter again from Positano Rent a Scooter which is in a shoe shop 
We rode to Marina de Praiano (just east of the town of Praiano) where we enjoyed a nice fresh fish lunch at a waterside resto, then rode around Praiano and back through Positano and to the lookout just west of town.
So essentially we scootered the full distance (16km) between Amalfi Town and Positano, just in separate pieces on different days.
Tonight we ate a great dinner at Donna Rosa up in Montepertuso, a little residential area uphill from Positano. We recommend this resto.
Some more photos of Maiori, which is 3 coastal towns east of Amalfi Town.
Our impression of the town was a lower-rent Italian vacation destination, which seemed accurate: the architecture is boring, no obvious foreign tourists, and prices are much lower here. It does have a large beach, no less unappealing than other ones on the coast (in other words, pebbly, and sorry, this ain’t the Caribbean
We stopped for a coffee here before returning to Atrani.
In fact we had 2 caffe macchiatos and 2 little pastries for a total of 4.10 euros, where a macchiato or cappuccino had been costing us 2.5-3 euro each in other towns!
Here in Maiori the river is partially covered and partially uncovered, a good 1.5 half stories under the main road/pedestrian mall. We had noticed that there was a river under the main road in Amalfi and Atrani, which also had fountains with natural spring water (but seemingly neither of these features are in Positano).
Tip: you can drink (and fill your water bottle) from these spring-fed fountains in Amalfi Town and Atrani.
Summary: I wouldn’t spend my vacation here, but worth a quick stop if you are driving a car or scooter on the coast.
Below are some more photos of Ravello, the hilltop town (at 300m/1000ft high) just past Amalfi and Atrani, which has attracted its share of famous people over the years (e.g. Gore Vidal, Greta Garbo).
The town is literally on a hilltop, small enough to easily cover on foot.
Besides fabulous the coastal views, the main tourist sites are the cathedral and 2 villas with gardens.
The cathedral, on the main square, has a little museum, a carved marble pulpit supported by six lions, and a relic of holy blood which allegedly goes from translucent to bright red one day a year.
We skipped the 2 villas due to the rain and the fact that you can see the views from elsewhere in town for free. The 13th century Villa Rufolo is right off the main square but is mostly ruins. Villa Cimbrone is at the other end of town.
There are also quite a few 5* hotels on the peak, also with spectacular views and worth a peek in the lobby/garden.
And yes, things tend to be pricier up here.
The air temp is also a little cooler but still comfortable.
On the east side of town is a concert hall on the cliff, which has spectacular views and some bizarre, cool, large sculptures.
We ate lunch at the Ristorante Garden which is on the east side of town right by the bus stop (recommended by Rick Steves and coincidentally right next to where we were escaping the rain under a tree). The food was great (if a little more expensive than Atrani/Amalfi) and ended with a complimentary shot of limoncello liquor. My mixed seafood consisted of mussels and 3 types of clams; very tasty and filling, larger than I expected for 13 euros.
The Italian Post Office ATM just down the street (where our driver stopped on the way to Atrani) works well will all manner of foreign cards (both Plus and Maestro!)
Transportation note: a public bus does go from Amalfi Town to Ravello. Or for hard-core hikers, you can hike up from Amalfi Town or Atrani.
Made it back safely on the scooter.
Shortish ride on the scooter due to serious rain today (despite only 60% chance – the rest of the week is 0-10% chance of rain each day).
We drove up to Ravello, where we enjoyed a great lunch while it was pouring rain. The fabulous coastal view disappeared into the fog…
Then after 2 false directions, we returned to the coast and drove past Minori to the more downscale town of Maiori (also more of an Italian tourist crowd vs foreign tourist). The architecture was not interesting, but food and drink was much cheaper there, e.g. €1.80 vs €3 for a cappuccino or macchiato.
We picked up a nice bottle of local wine (Costa D’Amalfi Terre Saracene from Ravello) for 9 euro, plus a half kilo of plum tomatoes for 1 euro, and drove back to Atrani where we picked up a Cappriciosa Pizza for €5 from last night’s resto (“Mistral”) which surprised us as the pizza is listed at €8 if you eat in. We enjoyed our pizza with extra pomodoro (tomato) and bottle of red wine as the only guests on our rooftop patio, enjoying the views and the Miami-like internally-lit white resin planters and furniture.
And remember that cell phone recharger I bought in Singapore? It came in handy today, as the battery was dead (after Susan’s Angry Birds game while it was raining post-lunch) and we were able to enjoy an hour of music over a romantic rooftop dinner.
Regarding parking: there are often free scooter parking zones marked my narrow white lines (and a sign, though that doesn’t actually say “free”) as opposed to the pay parking which are blue lines (usually sized for cars).
Side note relating to breakfast: the hills are full of lemon and orange trees (hence the limoncello liquor made in the region). At our hotel’s breakfast buffet were freshly picked oranges and lemons, some with stems on them. The oranges are tasty and juicy, and today I squeezed a fresh lemon into a glass of sparkling mineral water and, wow, did that taste refreshing (as good as the five euro drink the day before)!
Just about to head out on our 125cc rental scooter from Amalfi Rent a Scooter to explore Ravello (a town 1000 feet above us) and along the western Amalfi coast.
We might go as far as Paestum, the fine Greek ruins on the mainland south of Salerno.
The scooter cost €70 for 24 hours, inc. charge for delivery/pickup to our hotel.
Some photos from Amalfi Town, which yesterday barely won the annual rowing race against Pisa, Genoa and Venezia in the 57th annual regatta, held in Amalfi this year. Preceded by a parade, and followed late last night by excellent fireworks.
